I promise you this. You haven't heard this before. Some of you might have read my previous posts. Some of you, have never seen them. Some of you might recognize my username.. And others don't.
I am hitmeasap. My real name is André Strand. I live in Sweden and even though I'm not native in English, I do what I can to produce good content. I work hard. I try.
I've been on a bumpy road so far on steemit... And I know I'll face future obstacles too.
At one point, I even doubted myself and my own content..
It was due to the success I had. The success I had during my very first week on Steemit.
That experience was something different. I've never had that kind of luck ever before. I never got paid before I worked myself "up the ladder" so to speak. On steemit.. My first week, something rare happened to me.
This story is about the rocket that took me from the ground to the moon...
- And back with a crash! - I survived.. And I'm more sane than ever!
I don't really know how it all happened but for some reason, a whale landed on my post. For some reason, the "upvote" was delivered and I got thrilled, ecstatic and nervous to be honest..
Nervous due to the fact that at any point, another whale could come.. I was trending on the first page, even though I was quite far down the list.. I was still there.
At any point, another whale could drop by and give me a downvote and crush my dreams and earnings in pieces. With one click of a button.
One tiny click on a button.. And I could've got even more than what I got.. And I could also get nothing at all.
- A few hours later.. I got paid for the post. -DAMN! That's one of the best experiences I've ever had online.. And I've been working online for about 5 years now, full time, as a freelancer..
Honestly.. It's insane.
I decided to do another post.. And suddenly, that same whale dropped by again. BAM! - Pending payout of $400 or so.. My first thought was.. "yeah right". I couldn't believe it. Not until hours later when I suddenly noticed another whale on that same post. - BAM! Pending payout of more than $800..
And here's where this story takes a terrifying turn.
Seriously. I made more than $1000 for 2 posts. That's $500 a piece. I've never got paid that much for anything online before. Not even once. Not that fast..
This was my first week god dammit! - What the hell is going on..?
Honestly though.. I made a bunch of posts before I got struck by lightning. The scary part is.. That it happended twice when it happened. Two days in a row.
The third day, I made 2 different posts. One of them, just a meme. I got $7 for that one.. And $7 is awesome. If I had shared that thing on any other social media, I'd never earned a single cent..
So that $7 meant a lot to me. Not due to the actual amount, but because I could see both potential and that I was able to generate some extra income for doing something I usually do for free.
- An hour or so later, I made another post.. Payout: $614.
That literally equates to more than $1500, in 3 days.. That's almost as much as an employee at a grocery store here in Sweden earns in a month. - I made a month's pay in 3 days..
- Me. I did. A random guy on a new website called steemit.
There's no wonder people are getting hyped about the payouts for the trending posts. I got hyped too!
I made a shit ton of money, in my opinion, in 3 days.. And all I did, was to publish 4 different things.
What did I do next?
- I continued to publish new content obviously! - I had hit the jackpot for the first time in my life!
A short story about me and my life..
I suffer from panic anxiety and I've been doing that for the past 4 years, almost 5 actually. Ever since my father passed away. He died in front of me. At home. I was 27 years old.. Since that day, I've been taking care of my mother as much as I possibly can. And yeah, it's hard. Sometimes it's really difficult..
I miss my father everyday. I think about him all the time.. I hugged him for the last time when he laid there in his bed at home.. He was starting to get cold.. I said to him, between all the tears and the pain I felt..
"I promise that I'll take care of my mother".
That's the last thing I ever said to him. I wish he heard me. No matter if he did or not, I promised him something and I'll do whatever I can to keep my promise. - I will never break that promise!
The best thing about working from home, online as a freelancer.. Is not the fame, glory, red Ferraris or enough free time to do whatever I want, whenever I can..
For me, the best part is.. That I don't have to be afraid of the panic anxiety I have. I don't have to talk about it with my co-workers or explain things for my boss. I manage to earn enough to pay the most important bills and I can help my mother. That's what matters.
On top of that, I have a beautiful girlfriend. I can take care of her too. Perhaps not in the exact ways I would want to.. But we've been together for a long time now, and I truly love her. Family matters to me. It's the most important thing in life.
Let's move on with the story and let's go with some honesty here..
With about $1500+ in earnings.. I obviously kept going for more. I joined steemit due to my despise for facebook and other social media platforms.. - And I stayed due to all the cash I made. - It helped me alot in real life. I could support my mother easier, I could pay my bills and I could live a life where I didn't had to work my ass off 15 hours per day..
Like I've already mentioned, this was the best experience I've had online. Well, perhaps that's not entirely true but it was at least the easiest cash I ever made. It was easier to make money on steemit than it was to ask my father when I was a kid for some money to buy candy.
- My father never said no. I always got money from him.. So you can imagine how easy I thought it was to make money on steemit.
The story continues..
I published a couple of more posts.. And suddenly something weird happened..
I got just a few dollars on each post.. Post after post.. $7.. $7.. - "Seriously.. Something is messed up. There must be some crazy bug or error on steemit?!"
I made a new post. A better one. Well, at least I think so. I try to improve my writing and my posts for each new post I make.. It's hard not being native in English but I'm used to work hard and to put in a lot of effort.
"This will go big so everything is back to normal again.."- $33..
I hit that publish button once again later on that day and ended up with another $8... -Seriously?!
"Okay.. Calm down André. You got this! - Just be cool." I came up with this awesome idea and I went for it. BAM! - $634. - I made another post. $439..
I published another one.. $24!! - "Hey! - The site malfunctioning again..?"
When I first started out, I made one of those "awesome" introduction posts.. (You know the ones that are "always" trending and has pending payouts of $2000+) However, I got $5 from my post. Due to the success I've had so far, and as I had become more and more familiar with the site, I decided to share another one. A better one. $122.
At this point.. The real problem started..
I made 17 posts after that.. And got $40 at the most.. 17 posts!! - "...What the F is going on?!"
The thing is that:
- I am the one who messed up!! - BIG TIME! - I started to do the things I did for the money.
- I published my posts and I expected big payouts. I expected the same results I've had so many times before.
I made another post. $104. I published 8 more posts after that and earned $29 at the most for one of them.
At this point.. I started to doubt everything I did.. And everything I had done..
- What is going on? - What am I doing wrong?! - Have I done something different? - What's the reason for this? - Is it me? - Is it steemit? - Is it something else? - Did I publish my posts at stupid times?
- Damn. Perhaps I blew all my chances.. Perhaps I should have published less posts.. - All the readers are tired of 
I thought of nearly everything.. My head was filled with crazy thoughts and ideas. I just had to understand why this happened. Why now?
- Why can't I earn?! - "everyone else" are making thousands!
Instead of analyzing other people's content I analyzed my own..
Instead of looking at the trending post and trying to figure out why whales upvoted this and that.. I spent some time analyzing my own posts. I read them all. Several times. On which posts did I earn the most..?
I noticed that I went "big" on one of my posts where I talked about what I will do for steemit in terms of bringing more users. Instead of publishing the same article once more.. (I hate plagiarism and don't support copied content at all, not even if it's your own content.) I made another post, about the same thing again, but I developed it. I explained it better. I shared more details. I went, once again, all-in. $634. - "Yeah, that's the spirit!" - The next day, I published another one.
This time, about the success I had, but more importantly, that people never should give up, no matter the results they got. They will get noticed if they keep creating good posts. Sooner or later, someone will find them. Once again, someone obviously liked my share, so I got another $483. - The next day, $196.
Here's the "fun" part..
I made another post. In my own opinion, one of the best ones I've made so far. I explained in detail what I would do, to bring more people to steemit. How I would bring more users. I shared details about the whole campaign. I listed all the things I'm about to give away.. For free. For one purpose alone. - To bring more people to steemit.
Products I'd buy with money from my own pockets.. This was my contribution to steemit. And I knew I'd get a bunch of awesome advices, which I was looking for. I wasn't looking for the money.. I wasn't looking for a "thank you" from dan or ned. I was looking for advice.. Nothing else. - $4.. That's how much I made.
I made another one.. about more or less the same thing, but in a different way (like I did previously).. *And I made $6.'
That's just how it is!
So, what do I want to say with all of this..?
- Don't give up. No matter how much luck you have, no matter how little you get.. - Don't doubt yourself. - Believe in your content. - Believe in yourself. Be unique. Be you.
I know that I'm still just a small fish among all these amazing authors you can find on steemit.. But you could still learn something from my story..
What I came to realize, even if it took me awhile to figure out..
- Do your own thing. You will get exposure sooner or later.
- Don't write for the money. Money will come sooner or later.
No matter how much you analyze others, no matter how much time you spend on your post. No matter if you publish 1 or 4 posts per day.. None of that matters. Keep going!
There's also a bunch of cool websites out there, such as catchawhale for instance. One quick glance at the site and you'll see when the whales are awake. You'll see their activity. My recommendation? - DON'T LOOK!
If you start to publish content when the whales are the most active.. And get nothing. You'll most likely end up being sad, angry and disappointed. - That's what happened to me! - That's one of the reason I started to doubt my own content and started to doubt myself.
At this point, when I write this, it looks like I'm back to "square one" again, without going "big"..
Perhaps this will continue for a few days... A few weeks or months.. But I won't stop. I will never stop.
- Take it from me. A person who went "to the top" and back again..
Most of you will never be that overnight success.. But that's okay!
The last thing I will tell you is this..
Expect Nothing and publish your content because you want to do it!
Best Regards,
hitmeasap